White Lotus creator Mike White cast Survivor alum Natalie Cole in cameo

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The White Lotus season 3 premiere, “Same Spirits, New Forms.”

Survivor Drama Continues in The White Lotus Season 3

What happened in Fiji didn’t stay in Fiji for some Survivor: David vs. Goliath cast members.

Island Drama Almost Prevents Natalie Cole’s Appearance

Runner-up Mike White continues to pull from his Survivor season for cameos on his HBO satirical dramedy The White Lotus, but some island drama almost prevented Natalie Cole from appearing in season 3. Cole, who was on White’s original Goliath tribe, tells Entertainment Weekly that White didn’t like her on Survivor, and that he only invited her to appear on The White Lotus this season after she broke the ice first.

A Surprising Turn of Events

“The fact that he could look beyond the way he felt about me in Fiji and ask me to come do a part speaks volumes about him as a person,” Cole tells EW. “Initially, he thought he was never going to speak to me again.”

Bringing Survivor Drama to The White Lotus

White finished in second place on the 2018 fan-favorite season of the CBS competition series, and actually cast the deciding vote to send Cole home on day 15 after they were on opposing sides of their tribe. Cole remembers “feuding” with Goliath tribe member Jeremy Crawford, who was one of White’s “best friends” in the early days of their season. “That guy whose name will forever go unmentioned, he was after me from day one, and he was just really horrible to me and bullying me,” she says. “I finally said, ‘I don’t care about optics, I’m going to stand up for myself.’ I was fighting back and I got the bad rep, but I was really just protecting myself. He and Mike were really cool with each other, so Mike was pissed when I got him voted out before me, and then Mike voted me out.”

Reconciling After the Show

After their season ended, Cole says that White thought she was mad at him for years. “I ran into him at Natalia [Azoqa]’s wedding and he did everything but look at me,” she reveals. “When we finally caught each other’s eyes, I waved at him, and oh my god, he ran across the room and threw himself into a hug with me and said, ‘I thought you were mad at me!’ And I said, ‘No, when I first came off [the show] I was, but it’s a game, and I recognize that, and I’m cool.”

With their island issues finally settled in the past, Cole began reaching out to White to congratulate him every time he won Emmys for The White Lotus. “We had conversations, and then he said, ‘If I get a season 3, you think you’d come be on it?'” she remembers. “I said, ‘Sure,’ but I didn’t think he was serious, right? Because Mike did not like me on Fiji.”

Accepting the Invitation to The White Lotus

While she didn’t originally watch The White Lotus when it first premiered, her son told her it was “the hottest show,” and that she needed to follow up with White about his offer to film a cameo once season 3 was greenlit. “I was like, ‘He’ll call me,’ but [my son] kept saying, ‘Mom, you’ve got to call him,'” Cole explains. “I would never call, but Mike called, or texted me, actually, and was like, ‘Remember what we talked about — you being in the show if I got a season 3?’ And then I said, ‘Well, wait a minute, Mike. It was kind of raunchy in season 2.’ I was concerned about it being so graphic with sex organs and all of that.”

Embracing the Theme of Season 3

But after White explained that each season explored a different theme (“He said season 1 was about greed, and season 2 was about sex, and season 3 is about death,” Cole reveals) and confirmed that he wanted her to come to Thailand, she finally agreed to film a cameo. “And then he looped Carl [Boudreaux] in and told me Carl was going to play my husband,” Cole says. “I said, ‘Okay, so there’s going to be some humor to this.'”

Survivor Alums on The White Lotus

Boudreax, another David vs. Goliath alum, is the first David tribe member to appear on The White Lotus. He lasted longer than Cole in the game, getting voted out on day 30 and becoming the fifth jury member. But just like with Cole, White cast the deciding vote against Carl, sending him home … and then later sending him to Thailand to film his cameo. The two Survivor alums appear in the premiere as a wealthy couple dining at the resort who catch Belinda’s (Natasha Rothwell) eye for being “two Black people … and they weren’t staff!”

Expanding Role in The White Lotus

While Cole and Boudreaux’s appearance in the season 3 premiere is quick, she reveals she’ll return with speaking lines in a later episode. “Initially when [White] and I first talked, it was just going to be a cameo, and then when we talked again, he sent me some lines,” Cole says. “And it was quite a few lines, and then when we got there, he increased the lines even more. I found that pretty interesting, that we went from the cameo to me having several lines, and I thought I was going to be in one episode, and then it went to two episodes.”

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Character Inspiration and Filming Experience

As she discussed her character with White, she was pleasantly surprised to see that he drew inspiration from her personality on Survivor. “I’m the type of person that I’ve always been, so he brought my Survivor character back to life,” Cole says. “I was very dismissive, ‘Why are you talking to me?’ Carl is a little bit more quiet than me, I’m the aggressive and outspoken one, and that lent itself to [bringing back our] Survivor thing. I had way more lines than Carl, and I wanted him to speak up because Mike also said we could improvise a bit. I was trying to help Carl but he’s laid back and he continued to be.”

Filming in Thailand and On-Screen Chemistry

Cole loved getting to film in Thailand with her fellow Survivor cast member, as well as getting drinks at the bar with all the lead actors in their downtime. “The location was absolutely beautiful, the food was good,” she says. And yes, she adds with a laugh: “We talked about the jacket, but it wasn’t a part of my lines.”

The White Lotus season 3 airs Sundays on HBO.

FAQs

Q: How did Natalie Cole’s Survivor experience influence her appearance on The White Lotus?

A: Natalie Cole’s Survivor experience played a significant role in her cameo on The White Lotus, as the show drew inspiration from her Survivor persona and incorporated elements of her personality into her character.

Q: What was the theme of The White Lotus season 3?

A: The theme


Credit: ew.com